4/16/2008

To Hell or Coleraine!

That seems to be the war cry of those poor deluded DUP backwoodsmen in Coleraine.

DUP councillor Samuel Cole said, in response to a question about dividing up council positions, that democracy had to be defended as it had been fought for and won by Oliver Cromwell.

That's like suggesting that the Spanish Inquisition forms the basis for ecumenical dialogue.

Cole showed incredible naivety when he invoked the spirit of Cromwell.

To say that Cromwell is the most hated man in Irish history is not being dramatic, this religious nut engaged in a sectarian and hate filled blood lust throughout his time in Ireland. His actions during that time would be called war crimes or even genocide today.

I have always had a love for Irish curses as they are so descriptive, for example "Go ndeine an diabhal dréimire de cnámhdo dhroma ag piocadh úll i ngairdín Ifrinn" means "May the devil make a ladder of your backbone and pluck apples in the garden of hell".

Cromwell is unique in Gaelige culture as he has his own curse, "Malacht Cromail Ort" - Curse of Cromwell on you.

During his bloody conquest of Ireland we were left with mass evictions, killings and deportation for slave labour to Bermuda and Barbados.

We had the Penal laws in 1695 and the slaughter of men, women and children all in the name of his puritan madness. In fact during his time in Ireland the population decreased by 20% as a result of murder or exile.

He stole Irish land because of the £10 million that he raised under the Adventure Acts during the English Civil war and in order to pay off rich merchants he promised them Irish lands.

So not only was he a murderer but a hypocrite as well.

After the sacking of Drogheda he said "the righteous judgement of God on these barbarous wretches, who have imbued their hands with so much innocent blood". This was a lie as during the Rebellion of 1641 Drogheda was under the control of Royalists, not Catholic Confederates.

His actions in Ireland have resonated throughout history and led Winston Churchill to say this

"upon all of these Cromwell's record was a lasting bane. By an uncompleted process of terror, by an iniquitous land settlement, by the virtual proscription of the Catholic religion, by the bloody deeds already described, he cut new gulfs between the nations and the creeds. 'Hell or Connaught' were the terms he thrust upon the native inhabitants, and they for their part, across three hundred years, have used as their keenest expression of hatred 'The Curse of Cromwell on you.' ... Upon all of us there still lies 'the curse of Cromwell'".

This DUP idiot should be more careful before he invokes the spirit of Cromwell in the future; it's disgusting and deeply insulting to the Irish people.

James Joyce summed up Cromwell best in his iconic novel "Ulysses"

"What about sanctimonious Cromwell and his ironsides that put the women and children of Drogheda to the sword with the bible text God is love pasted round the mouth of his cannon?".